


Rumor Has It...

by Ithinkwehaveanemergency



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Crack, Gossip, Liam isnt actually in the fic, M/M, Misunderstandings, Rumors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 17:11:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15417660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithinkwehaveanemergency/pseuds/Ithinkwehaveanemergency
Summary: Jenna isn't sure what is going on... But she's definitely out of the loop on something, because she swore people in this town liked her...Or,Liam is off at college, Theo has graduated and is back in Beacon Hills.  Except the town gossips haven't been getting the memos.





	Rumor Has It...

**Author's Note:**

> This is crack. I don't know where it came from, other than the fact that crazy rumors have been going around my sister's neighborhood and it's entertaining as hell.

Jenna propped her forearms against the handle of her shopping cart, typing out a message to her husband about the crazy lady who inexplicably decided to honk at her and flip her off in the parking lot.  She was following up the anecdote with an unnecessary observation about the absurd amount of ramen flavors they've developed since she was a child, when suddenly her cart collided with something firm.

 

“Oh, I'm so-”  Jenna startled, standing up straight and pulling her cart back.

 

The middle aged woman, who Jenna vaguely recalled seeing jog down their street a few times, sneered at her with disgust.

 

“You should be ashamed of yourself.”  The redhead turned her nose up and moved to steer her cart around Jenna’s with a loud huff.  “Ashamed.”

 

Jenna’s eyes went wide and she held back a laugh at the insane woman, opting to hold her own apology in, seeing as how it appeared the collision had been intentional.

 

Jenna turned toward the dairy section at the end of the next aisle where she saw her elderly next door neighbor, Elise Bucket, perusing the yogurt selection.

 

“Hi Miss Bucket, how are you today.”  Jenna greeted the nice woman cheerily.

 

Elise turned to her, smile dropping instantly.

 

“It’s Boo-Kay.”  The woman sneered, walking away hastily without any yogurt at all.  Jenna was beyond confused as she watched the little old lady who had been nothing but pleasant to her in the past year in which they’d lived in their current house.

 

“What the f-” Jenna whispered to herself, but was cut off by another familiar voice.

 

“Jenna Geyer.”  Patricia Hewitt’s voice caused her to spin around on her heel.  The taller woman stared down at her, a disappointed look on her face.  “Clearly it has been too long since we’ve talked if you doing what everyone around town says you're doing.”

 

Jenna’s eyes widened and her hands shot up in the air.

 

“What does everyone say I’m doing?” Jenna hissed loudly, causing a bit of a scene.  “I am a bit confused as to what everyone is smoking! This is insane!”

 

Patricia eyed her close friend warily before crowding in and looking around cautiously.  There were a group of people who Jenna recognized as parents of other students who graduated Liam’s year.  Liam had been away at college for over three years, and Jenna hadn't talked to some of these men and women in quite some time.

 

“Jenna, I know it's hard…”  Patricia put a comforting hand on her shoulder.  “I know you're home alone all day long, David working that real early shift…”

 

Jenna turned her attention back to Mason’s mother, jerking her head back in confusion at what her husband had to do with all of this nonsense.

 

“But Jenna, you had to know that especially in this small gossipy town, the answer isn't sleeping with a younger man.”  Patricia admonished, causing Jenna to choke on air. “Everyone has seen him leaving your house. Candice said that she even said she saw you kiss him goodbye on your porch the other afternoon, just before David got home from work.”

 

Realization dawned on Jenna’s face as she put the pieces of the story together.

 

“Candice is a wannabe-cougar hag who's probably just bitter that she doesn't have a fit twenty-something year old coming out of her house everyday.”  Jenna grumbled to herself, looking back up at the crowd of gossipers in the produce section.

 

“Jenna what are you thinking?”  Patricia frowned in pity.

 

“It’s Theo!  I kissed him on the cheek, oh for fucks sake, it's just Theo!”  Jenna rolled her eyes, almost shouting at her friend, before she realized the volume of her own incredulous voice.  She lowered her voice to a hushed whisper. “Jesus, Patty, I wouldn't… how could you think… oh my god!”

 

“Wait.”  Patricia stepped back, hands on her hips.  She eyed Jenna with an unsure expression. “That poor Raeken boy Corey said died and came back to life? The one who lived in the sewers?”

 

“He didn't **_die_ ** _._ ”  Jenna shrugged.  She and Patricia were more on the inside than most of the town citizens, but that didn't mean it made any more sense to them.  “Eh, well, I guess… but anyway. Yes, Theo. Theo my **_son’s boyfriend_ **.  He lives with David and me now.  He moved in over three months ago, in January.”

 

Patricia stared, speechless.  Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly, looking a bit like a fish.

 

“Well that's not-”

 

“Honestly, Patty.”  Jenna glared at her very kind, but impressionable old friend.  “If you say something about it still being inappropriate for me to be alone with a handsome young man all day… I will lose my shit.”

 

“No, no…”  Patricia waved a hand in the air.  “It's a perfectly good explanation, and I know that Theo’s gay.  I didn't know Liam dated men, though. Is this _new_ ?  My son _never_ tells me anything…”

 

Patricia rolls her eyes and shakes her head in thought before looking back at Jenna, distraught.

 

“I'm sorry that I doubted you.  I was just going to say that people learning that David knows is just going to make the rumors worse!  They're going to think youre all involved in some kinky affair!”

 

Jenna’s eyes bugged out and she face-palmed.

 

“What is wrong with this town?!”  Jenna cried, a smidge too loud, causing the gaggle of gossipy Beaconites to scatter away from their conspicuous huddle.

  


*****

 

Jenna chopped a zucchini distractedly as Theo and David sat at the dinner table.  Theo on his laptop working, while David was prepping egg rolls to fry.

 

“Hey.  Have you guys…”  Jenna trailed off delicately, unsure that she should even be bringing the topic up.

 

“Bungee-jumped?”  Theo prompted, not looking up from his work.

 

“Eaten escargot?” David suggested immediately after.

 

“Had recurring dreams of being naked on a rollercoaster?”  Theo took a turn, earning a confused side-eye from David before the older man put out another suggestion.

 

“Ridden a bull?”

 

“Ridden a elephant?”

 

“Swam with Dolphins?”

 

“Held a baby Koala?”

 

“Tried psychedelics?”

 

“Seen the northern lights?”

 

“Seen the northern lights on psychedelics?”  Theo snorted at David’s comment before trying to one up him.

 

“Been to Disneyland on psychedelics?”

 

“Been to Thailand and slept in a hobbit home?”  David practically shouted in a bout of inspiration, making Theo and Jenna look at him in shock.

 

“ _On psychedelics_?”  Theo added with a grin and David sent back knowing finger guns.  The two men grinned at each other, endlessly pleased with themselves.

 

“You boys done?”  Jenna stared at them with her best attempt at looking unimpressed.

 

“Yeah, sorry.  What were we doing?”  Theo cleared his throat and both men gave her their full attention.

 

“I was asking…”  Jenna turned away anxiously, continuing her vegetable prep.  “If you guys had heard any strange rumors around town lately.  About like…”

 

“You mean that I'm some sort of ‘kept boy’ in your home and we’re all having a raunchy romance novel worthy affair?”  Theo helped, causing Jenna to slam her knife down on the cutting board with more force than necessary.

 

“You knew!?”  Jenna gasped dramatically, looking to her husband who had conveniently started rolling his egg rolls again.  “You _both_ knew?!”

 

“Oh yeah, I knew.”  Theo nodded, looking back down at his work like nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

 

Jenna gaped at the two men sitting at the dining table before crossing her arms with a huff.  Neither man looked at her, both seemingly unconcerned with the situation. Jenna pouted, waiting patiently for someone to say something.   _Anything._  She quickly ran out of patience and was about to demand they talk about it, but the doorbell rang before she could open her mouth.

 

David looked up at Theo for the chimera to tell them who it was.

 

Theo smirked, not looking up from his work.

 

“Jesus help me.”  David muttered, standing from the table and going to rinse his hands off in the sink.  He looked at his wife with a guilty shrug as he toweled his hands dry, and headed for the front door.

 

“Sheriff.”  Jenna and Theo heard David greet the man at the door, inviting him in.

 

Both men entered the kitchen to Jenna standing in front of the oven with hands firmly planted on her hips.

 

“Jenna.”

 

“Sheriff.”

 

The three older occupants of the room stared down at Theo expectantly.

 

“Hey Sheriff.”  Theo greeted finally. Trying to suppress a grin.  “What bring you to the Geyer residence this evening?”

 

“You know what, Theo.”  Sheriff Stilinski sighed, rolling his eyes.  

 

“Come on.”  David elbowed the off-duty officer.  “It was funny. You can't tell me it wasn’t funny.”

 

“It was hilarious.”  The Sheriff deadpanned, but Jenna could see a twinkle in his eye.

 

“Dude, it **_was_ ** hilarious.”  Theo argued, giving up and letting a gigantic grin slide onto his face.

 

Jenna held her hands in front of her, glaring around at the three men in the kitchen.

 

“Is anyone gonna tell me what the hell is going on?”  She squinted pointedly at her husband, but before he could open his mouth to speak, the sheriff answered.

 

“I got a call today about a… disturbance on the 1400 block of Main.”  He sighed heavily, staring at Theo, who went back to staring at his laptop studiously.  The sheriff shook his head and looked up at Jenna with a pitying expression. “A very _large_ group of our town’s middle aged population had gathered outside the jewelry store, practically blocking traffic as your husband and this… _menace_ … shopped for some sort of, _and this is straight from the caller who reported it_ , ‘fancy custom engagement ring’.”

 

Jenna's eyes went wide as she looked over at Theo.  He looked up at her, amusement gone, replaced by a timid, nervous expression that she hadn't seen since she’d first welcomed the young man into her home, straight out of college with no friends or family.  Except for Liam, who he’d been devastated and reluctant to leave behind at school.

 

Theo had become like a son to her in the past few months.  He was barely conscious when he was around, the double shifts at the State Hospital, CMF, leaving him with few waking hours aside from his work and his commute.  But on the rare days off like today, Jenna spent any time he had getting to know the man her son had fallen in love with better. She began learning from him, about all the things she hadn't known about her son’s life, as she’d been left out of the loop on the supernatural for so long, and then Liam, Corey, Theo and most of the other young pack members had left for college soon after she found out.

 

On one particularly rough day, seven weeks ago, when Theo had to give care to an inmate whose story was particularly triggering, the young man had ranted to her about his past in more detail than she’d previously known,and how he didn't deserve her son, how he didn't deserve any of this.

 

She’d not fought him on it, but simply told him that she trusted her son unequivocally, and that _he_ thought that Theo deserved the world, so if he trusted Liam as much as she did, then the best thing to do is suck it up and take it.

 

“You're…” Jenna choked on her own watery voice as she looked down at the box Theo had taken out of his pocket.  She took a step toward the table, picking it up to examine it. She gasped when she saw the ornate band. “You're proposing to Liam?”

 

“Not until after his graduation.”  Theo rushed out on a nervous exhale.  “And it can be a long engagement, I know he’s still up in the air about grad school and I obviously wouldn't want him to be distracted from that if it's what he wants, but I just want him to know that I'm in.  Whatever it is, y'know? Like, tomorrow or next year, or in ten years… I'm in.”

 

Jenna’s eyes burned and she knew she shouldn't cry.  She knew she was being ridiculous, but like most mothers, she'd been fearing and looking forward to this day her entire life.

 

Having someone love her son ~~as much as~~ more than she does.

 

Having someone promise to take care of her son the way she had for years.  The years it was just him and her. The years it was the three of them. The month is was the four of them, Theo crashing in the guest room while Scott and the Sheriff hesitantly helped him get his life back and move off to college.  The years it was just her and David facetiming Liam as he told them he’s fallen in love with Theo and that he’s pretty sure it's forever.

 

Jenna coughed out a strangled sob and Theo stood from the table, concerned.

 

“I don't have to!”  Theo tried to console her desperately.  “If you think it's a bad idea, I won't, I swear.”

 

“Oh, honey, no.  It's not that...”  Jenna reached out for her future son-in-law and waved at her face with her free hand, trying to dry away the tears in the corners of her eyes.  Theo approached her carefully, hugging her tight as she laugh-sobbed her way into an explanation. “I’m crying because I’m happy. I'm just laughing because I just caught onto why everyone was watching you and David at the jewelry store.”

 

The sheriff cackled from the other side of the kitchen, then covered his mouth apologetically, but the tension of the announcement left the room in a rush of exhales and relief and laughter as David cut in, telling the dramatic story of how David had put his arm around Theo’s shoulder when the sheriff came into the store to talk to them, and Elise Bucket, their neighbor, had fainted on the spot and an ambulance was called to site.

 

Jenna kept an arm around Theo the whole time, laughing and crying at the ridiculous story.

 

“That's actually why I'm here.”  The sheriff sighed. “I was just next door with Miss Bucket and she wanted to sue you for causing her emotional distress.”

 

“The woman is batshit crazy!”  David called out in distress. “She wouldn't even let me help her when she fainted!”

 

“No, no, I understand.”  Sheriff Stilinski laughed with a shake of his head.  “I'm here to tell you the jig is up. I had to tell her.  She seemed very shocked. Apparently no one remembers Theo, which I mean, is kind of a good thing, and from the people I've actually seen find out the truth today, they seem to be surprised at Liam scoring, quote-unquote, such a catch.”

 

Theo understandingly nodded his agreement at that, waving off the man’s apologetic tone at his obvious backhanded compliment.

 

“I wouldn't expect an apology for her behavior, but she was quite… embarrassed.  You guys let it go long enough, and I'll have no more police department resources wasted on this town's idiot gossipers.”

 

“Thank you, Sheriff.”  Jenna said. She squeezed Theo into her side.  “I guess Theo is just bored without his future husband and needed to get his kicks somewhere.  We shouldn't have let this go on as long as we did.”

 

“He hasn't even said yes yet!”  Theo chuckled, embarrassed. Jenna waved the statement away like the nonsense it was.

 

“Look.”  David cut in.  “I was just insulted that everyone was impressed that Chris could score a fit younger man and they were offended and appalled when we could.  That's just rude. I am at least a couple years younger, and just as handsome...”

 

“No you're not.”  Theo and Jenna chorused immediately.

 

Sheriff Stilinski laughed again. Holding his hands up and backing away.

 

“I just came to warn you that Liam might get wind of this… scandal.  In light of its recent escalation, at least.” He looked at them with a raised eyebrow.  “Might wanna move that proposal date up, or else it might ruin the surprise.”

 

“Thanks, Sheriff.”  Theo smiled warmly, the tone in his voice hinting it was for more than just the heads up, but for his acceptance and assistance in the past few years, most recently in getting the entry job at CMF.

 

Sheriff Stilinski nodded and walked to the door, David showing him out to his car, reiterating words of thanks with a friendly shoulder squeeze.  Jenna and Theo followed them out to the porch, standing side by side as the sheriff got in his car and drove away.

 

“Theo.”  Jenna backed away from the young man, squeezing his elbow briefly and giving him a hesitant look.  “Why didn't you guys tell me? Did you think I wouldn't approve?”

 

“No, I just…”  Theo bit his lip, looking down at his shoes.  “Liam is your only kid. I just wanted to have a big impressive plan, including a ring, to show you how serious I was and how ready I am to actually do this.  I'm _completely_ ready to marry your son.”

 

“Theo.”  David walked up to them, putting his arms around his wife’s shoulders.  She reached up grabbing his hand and stroking the wedding band that had sat there for just over a decade.  “Whether it's next year, or on ten years, you'll make a great husband. We support you guys every step of the way, and not just because you put some fancy piece of jewelry on Liam’s finger.”

 

“Theo, we’ll be proud to call you our son-in-law.”  Jenna grinned. “But you're already a member of this family.”

 

Theo’s bottom lip shook and he looked away, dragging a hand down his face in anguish.

 

“Ugh. I really want to hug you guys, but Miss Bucket is literally sticking her head out of her window, and I can _hear_ her dialing on her phone to call someone right now.”  Theo groaned, fighting back tears.

 

“Aw, fuck her.”  Jenna laughed, pulling Theo in for a group hug.  Theo laughed wetly, letting himself be held by the people who’d shown him more kindness than anyone else had, his entire life.  “We love you, Theo.”

 

“Thank you guys.”  Theo mumbled back, heart swelling with happiness, even as he rolled his eyes at the faint sound of Elise Bucket’s voice in his ear.

  
  
  


_“Johanna.  Johanna, you will never guess what just happened over at the Geyer house…”_


End file.
